Family Pride eBook

purple bows, Aunt Betsy felt much better, and enjoyed
the tempting little supper, served on silver and Sevres
china, the attendant waiting in the hall instead of
in her room, where her presence might embarrass one
unaccustomed to such usages. They were thoughtful,
very kind, and had Mark been her own son she could
not have been more deferential than he appeared when
just before starting for the dinner he went up to see
her, asking what message he should take to Helen.
Mrs. Banker, too, came in, her dress eliciting many
compliments from her guest, who ventured to ask the
price of the diamond pin which fastened the point lace
collar. Five hundred dollars seemed an enormous
sum, but Aunt Betsy was learning fast not to say all
she thought, and merely remarked that Katy had some
diamonds, too, which she presumed cost full as much
as that.

“She should do very well alone,” she said,
“she could read her Bible, and if she got too
tired, go to bed, though she guessed she should stay
up till they came home, so as to hear about the doin’s,”
and with a good-by she sent them away, after saying
to Mrs. Banker, “Maybe you ain’t the kissin’
kind, but if you be, I wish you would kiss Katy once
for me.”

There was a merry twinkle in Mark’s eyes as
he asked:

“And Helen, too?”

“I meant your marm, not you,” Aunt Betsy
answered; while Mrs. Banker raised her hand to her
mischievous son, who ran lightly down the stairs,
carrying a happier heart than he had known since Helen
Lennox had first come to New York, and he had met
her at the depot.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE DINNER PARTY.

It was a very select party which Wilford Cameron entertained
that evening; and as the carriages rolled to his door
and deposited the guests, the cloud which had been
lifting ever since he came home and found “no
Barlow woman” there, disappeared entirely, leaving
him the blandest, most urbane of hosts, pleased with
everybody—­himself, his guests, his sister-in-law,
and his wife, who had never looked better than she
did to-night, in pearls and light blue silk, which
harmonized so perfectly with her waxlike complexion.
Like some little fairy she flitted through the rooms,
receiving, with a sweet childlike grace the kiss which
Mrs. Banker gave her, but never dreaming from whom
it came. Aunt Betsy’s proximity was wholly
unsuspected, both by her and Helen, who was very handsome
to-night, in crimson and black, with lilies in her
hair. Nothing could please Mark better than his
seat at table, where he could look into her eyes,
which dropped so shyly whenever they met his ardent
gaze. Helen was beginning to doubt the story of
his engagement with Juno, or at least to think that
it might possibly have been broken off. Certainly
she could not mistake the nature of the attentions
he paid to her, especially to-night, when he hovered
continually near her, totally ignoring Juno’s
presence, and conscious apparently of only one form,
one face, and that the face and form of Helen Lennox.